Image tank: advice appreciated

Zeus1

I am looking for an imagetank, because I will be going for an extended city trip to Istanbul...and will be taking too many pictures.
What can You recommend as a good image tank: Epson P2000 to P5000? Jobo? Storvision? Vosonic? A tank with or without viewing screen? Do they all support Nikon RAW images?
TIA for Your kind advice.

digismile

I guess a lot depends on your time and budget. As much as I've wanted something like the Epson, I've had other things ahead of it on the purchase list!

I bought an inexpensive 40 Gb photobank from SmartDisk for my dad about a year ago for a month long trip he and my mother took in England. I have used it about 5 times myself on various trips/vacations. It works very simply: put in your card and push a transfer button. It doesn't care whether the file is jpeg or RAW, it just copies the folders from the card an puts it in a new folder (Card1 Card2, or something like that). The screen display tells you how many Gb to transfer and percentage complete.

These kinds of devices aren't particularly fast at transfering, but they are inexpensive and get the job done. As I typically don't have a lot of time to view and edit photos while on vacation, I think an Epson P-5000 is more of a want than a need for me . and these things keep getting cheaper. The current SmartDisk model is now 80Gb and 25% cheaper!

For now, I'll keep borrowing my dad's photobank ...

Chrissiebeez_NL

i've just bought a jobo one 80GB photobank thats way simple without a viewing screen and just a copy button. time will tell if this is a viable option. it sure is a cheap one. I got it for just 140 Euro here in The Netherlands (where everything is at least 10% more expensive then in the US).

claudermilk

I prefer the ones without a viewing screen. It extends battery life, and then RAW support is a non-issue (it's now simply a file to copy).

I still use a Hyperdrive HD80 and it's solid as a rock. The new version is the Hyperdrive Space. A very simple device that just does the job with no fuss. The battery will last long enough to fill up a fairly large drive. File transfer on these is actually quite fast; it will transfer my 1GB and 2GB SanDisk Ultra IIs in about a minute. PSD-to-PC transfer is USB 2 and runs about 10MB/sec IIRC--it's pretty quick.

Their main competition is the Nexto 2300 series. I'm not familiar with those myself but have heard good reviews.

Art Scott

Personally with the cost of memory cards being as inexpensive as they are getting I cannot see why one would want to lug a hardrive around .

I have begun the collection of 8gb CF cards....they take up way less space and weigh a lot less than a small (80gb) image tank. As we know you truly cannot have too much memory.

Justiceiro

Art Scott wrote:

Personally with the cost of memory cards being as inexpensive as they are getting I cannot see why one would want to lug a hardrive around .

I have begun the collection of 8gb CF cards....they take up way less space and weigh a lot less than a small (80gb) image tank. As we know you truly cannot have too much memory.

I have had experience with two image tanks, the mediagear 40gig (rather dated at this point) and the Wolverine ESP 80 gig.

The mediagear was super cheap a few years ago, took forever to download, didn't have a view screen, and drank power like there was no tomorrow, so I wouldn't recommend it. I think it is discontinued anyway.

The wolverine is comparable to the Epson, it has a few extra features like the ability to act like a Tivo with a docking station (why this capability exists I have no idea). It's not near as sexy, however. Screen is Good for making sure you actually have the image. Power supply is excellent, I've downloaded 20 g into it and have used about 1/4th of the battery since I first charged it 1 month ago. The cost is around $350.

It supports TIFF and JPEG, as well as Canon RAW (I imagine Nikon as well). Also, you can play tetris. Can't do that with a CF card, I guess.

As far as buying a crapload of cards, that would be nice, but an image tank is still a far more economical option. I don't imagine you could get 10 8 gig cards for under $400. Weight and size (for the wolverine) aren't that big if a deal, and its a lot easier to keep track of than a bunch of memory cards.

claudermilk

Art Scott wrote:

Personally with the cost of memory cards being as inexpensive as they are getting I cannot see why one would want to lug a hardrive around .

I have begun the collection of 8gb CF cards....they take up way less space and weigh a lot less than a small (80gb) image tank. As we know you truly cannot have too much memory.

You're going to make me do the math again?! Cards are cheaper for sure, but last time I checked it's still more cost effective to go with the PSD. With average price cards (about $20 for a 2GB) vs a PSD with 80GB drive it's something like $1200 vs $350, advantage PSD. I also don't buy the sapce thing--40 cards to juggle vs one small box (ok, 8GB cards is 10 cards vs 1 box & they are smaller, but 1 item is easier to track than 10). I completely disagree with both arguments.

Edit: looks like we both made the same rebuttal simultaneously.

Chrissiebeez_NL

small update
i just recieved my jobo 80GB and it seems to work perfectly well. not the fastest thing in the world but the battery life seems good. uploaded a few cards and still no change in the battery sign. for me its was all about the money so no hard choices there..
Good luck with choosing!

Zeus1

TXS all for Your reactions. At the moment I will follow Art's suggestion and invest in more CF cards: smaller and easier to stach, certainly with a Thinktank Pixel Pocket Rocket (http://www.thinktankphoto.com/ttp_product_PxlPcktRckt.php).

However, I will follow the markets evolution and wait a bit longer before investing in an image tank.

RogersDA

One thing I never liked about the photo storage options is that they all use harddives which = moving parts which = risk of drive crashes since these things are always being bumbed, knocked, etc.

Cards are solid-state. No crashes.

That's why I would never go back to microdrive CF cards. Ever.

Nikolai

RogersDA wrote:

One thing I never liked about the photo storage options is that they all use harddives which = moving parts which = risk of drive crashes since these things are always being bumbed, knocked, etc.

Cards are solid-state. No crashes.

That's why I would never go back to microdrive CF cards. Ever.

On the cards I totally agree with you. With 32Gb media around, microdrives do not cut the cake anymore.
On the archive size regular HDD-based storage devices still provide much better ROI. And since you mostly keep them OFF and don't expose to the same mecahnical abuse as you do with your camera, they are pretty much OK.
Yet, of course, it's a matter of a personal preferences...

RogersDA

Nikolai wrote:

On the cards I totally agree with you. With 32Gb media around, microdrives do not cut the cake anymore.
On the archive size regular HDD-based storage devices still provide much better ROI. And since you mostly keep them OFF and don't expose to the same mecahnical abuse as you do with your camera, they are pretty much OK.
Yet, of course, it's a matter of a personal preferences...

Hey, Nik....

My microdrives were never turned on when not in the camera and I still lost significant files. Sometimes it just takes one good bump from somewhere to kill those things.
Oh well...leasons learned.

Nikolai

RogersDA wrote:

Hey, Nik....

My microdrives were never turned on when not in the camera and I still lost significant files. Sometimes it just takes one good bump from somewhere to kill those things.
Oh well...leasons learned.

Microdrives are very fragile, I agree. Storage HDDs are not *micro*, and while being "drives", they are far more stable. Besides, as I pointed out, they are less likely to experience all the occupational hazards and mostly spend they time on the shelf at home, in the hotel room or in the back pack (worst case:-).

Justiceiro

Nikolai wrote:

Microdrives are very fragile, I agree. Storage HDDs are not *micro*, and while being "drives", they are far more stable. Besides, as I pointed out, they are less likely to experience all the occupational hazards and mostly spend they time on the shelf at home, in the hotel room or in the back pack (worst case:-).

I carried my mediagear portable drive, which is not nearly as "solid" feeling as the wolverine, in my backpack while trekking about Burma for two weeks. Also took it to Turkey and Uzbekistan- I do a lot of walking and it spends a great deal of time in the backpack- probably the worst case scenario as Nikolai mentioned. I never lost anything. Then again, it's a Lowepro backpack, so it was pretty snug, and it was in its carrying case. I guess the question is how much cash you have to spend on media. When I go out, I'm usually out for two weeks with zero computer access. I just can't lay down the cash for all the solid state cards, given that I have a lot fo holes in my portfolio of gear, and I have to buy plane tickets.

The wolverine is, so far, problem free. And it is built quite a bit tougher than the Mediagear (not that the mediagear is made of flypaper or anything). So I feel confident. BTW, if anybody wants to purchase a used mediagear 40g tank, let me know.

claudermilk

Remember that thes PSDs use laptop drives, which are built with the kind of knocking around they get in mind. I have yet to lose a single file after heavy use of my HD80 over two years--both nice safe static shoots, and hiking around.

Martyn

I have a Creative Zen which has a built in CF slot.
Nice screen and it plays music and videos as well.
Only 30GB though.

Manfr3d

If you shoot Canon take a look at the Canon M30 or M80 ... its like
the Epson but runs on BP511 Batteries. Just stay away form
those Camera2ipod things, they are horribly slow and drain your
batteries like crazy.